By Connie Adair
Glass half full. Lemonade from lemons. To make the world a better place, looking on the bright side definitely helps. Instead of seeing broken windows and graffiti as a negative, David Yetman, broker owner of Century 21 Team One in Halifax, saw an opportunity to generate a little publicity for his company, but more importantly a novel way to promote local artists.
Previously the wall was a magnet for vandalism.
It’s working. The first annual Urban Wall Art competition has been featured on CBC, CTV National, Global TV and a local magazine. It has also received positive response from the community for this year’s contest winners, Ben Swinden, in his final year at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, and Shawn Boucher, a community college automotive repair graduate who specialises in bodywork and spray painting. Swinden has created many murals in Halifax, as well as in Toronto and Montreal.
Ben Swinden’s 26-foot-long mural.
“This commission was particularly important to me because it highlights the positive aspects of having a graffiti style mural that business owners generally don’t understand,” says Swinden, who created the mural for the 26 x nine-foot side wall of the office.
Shawn Boucher, who created the mural for the nine-foot wide front wall, says, “The contest helped me by giving me a space to express myself and gave people a chance to see and enjoy my work the way I want them too – on their everyday commute to and from work.”
“My work tends to be filled with colour. I want people to see it – no holding back. The piece I did for Century 21 is a stylized scene of the Halifax cityscape, with lots of colour and abstract bits to keep the eyes moving while looking at it,” Boucher says.
Shawn Boucher created the art for the front wall.
Commissioned graffiti murals have the ability to deter vandalism but they also inspire youths who might otherwise be doing the vandalism to use their artistic talents to try and become commercially successful. Yetman, whose office has been at the high-traffic corner in Halifax for about seven years, first thought about putting company signage on the building about five years ago, but shelved the idea because constructing a wall as a backdrop for the signage and covering up existing windows was too costly. Of late, however, the office had been plagued with vandalism, with $10,000 in repair bills for broken windows alone. Paying graffiti removal companies wasn’t cheap either, and it has to be done promptly, he says. “If graffiti is removed within 24 hours, there’s a 10 per cent chance of being retagged. If you leave it for two weeks, there’s a 90 per cent chance you’ll be retagged,” Yetman says.
Century 21 Team One owners David Yetman (left) and Patrick Johnston.
He thought about corporate signage early this year, after vandalism had become an ongoing problem. But in February, he came up with the idea for the urban art contest, teaming up with Kate MacLennan, the city’s community arts facilitator, who puts building owners in touch with artists.
It took two months to build the wall and within a week, both murals were complete. “The approval rating has been 99 per cent,” Yetman says. Even though he says he won’t sell more houses as a result, his brokerage is getting publicity.
When the artists were working, people honked their horns in a show of support. After hearing about it on the radio, some people changed their routes so they could drive by to see the artists work, he says. “Police officers stopped their cars, rolled down their windows and applauded the artists. Police and the municipality have been phenomenal.”
Yetman got “mental support” from the city, but funded the project himself. The total project cost, including wall construction, was $9,500.
“I think I did the right thing,” he says of his decision to promote urban artists.
“The reception from the public and the press has been amazing and definitely exceeded everybody’s expectations. My greatest hope is that other businesses in the HRM (Halifax Regional Municipality) will recognize this project’s success and look to employ me and other members of the graffiti community,” says Swinden. His work is traditional graffiti, a somewhat abstracted form of shapes based on the structure of letters. “The focus of graffiti is always to be exciting, eye-catching and colourful. This style of art is perfect for mural projects because the public finds it intriguing and exciting.”
Yetman says other brokers should look at what’s happening in their own neighbourhoods and come up with ideas accordingly but he hopes his project will encourage others to get involved with urban art. “This group of artists needs help placing art. It’s something other businesses can get involved in. Even if they don’t have a problem with vandalism, it’s a way to showcase urban art.”
Since urban art is by nature temporary, Yetman plans to hold the contest two times a year, with each new contest winner refreshing the space and providing an ongoing place for street artists to showcase their work.
This year’s winners were chosen by a panel that included Sandra Johnson, business development manager at Yetman’s office.
One small portion of the office wall has yet to be finished. Yetman plans to hang a professional banner, and to have the artists come back to do their own tag and include contact information in case anyone wants to hire them.
“I got to know David from a professional standpoint,” says Swinden. “He has been great to work with. From the very beginning he was completely open to my point of view and was accepting of whatever ideas I brought to the table. It takes a lot of courage to take a leap of faith with a project like this.”
Boucher adds, “I think David did a marvellous thing. Through the entire process he was supportive and willing to make what visions I had come to fruition….We need places to accept our art form more openly and David has taken the first step. He is a good guy to work with, definitely, and I hope to work with him in the future.”
For more information, visit the special website Yetman created to highlight the competition. www.urbanartwall.ca.
